Tea-rolling machinery



Aug. 31, 1937. A. BEVER l 2,091,582

TEA ROLLING MACHINERY Filed Aug. 22, 1955 2 sheets-sheet 1 FIG. l.

Aug. 31, 1937. A. BEVER' 2,091,582

TEA ROLLING MACHINERY Filed Aug. 22, 1935 2 sneet'sfsneet-z 771/65 liar.

Patented Aug. 31, 1937 UNITED STATES TEA-ROLLING MACHINERY Augustus Bever,

one-half to Newton,

Bradford, England, assignor of Chambers t Company Limited, Thorncliffe Ironworks and Collieries near Sheeld, England, a corporation of Great Britain Application August 22,

1935, Serial No. 37,410

In Great Britain September 6, 1934 2 Claims.

This invention relates to tea-rolling machines and, in the usual form of construction, such machines are provided with a horizontal table above which is supported a box or container for the tealeaf to be rolled, this box being open at the top and the bottom and provided with a top plate or cap so that the tea-leaf is contained between the table and the top plate or cap. The table and the box are generally given a rotary motion by l0 means of three cranks and pressure is applied to the top plate or cap by means of a screw gear which may be actuated either by hand or by mechanical means.

In rolling the leaf during the process of manufacture, it is advantageous during one period of the rolling process to roll the leaf under pressure during which time the leaf tends to heat, then to relieve the pressure and allow the leaf to expand and cool and become aerated, the leaf being then rolled for a period without pressure. The pressure is thus applied and relieved intermittently.

The object of the present invention is to provide means for automatically applying and relieving the required pressure, or for automatically and correctly controlling the pressure applied at definite periods during the rolling process, the duration of the periods and the intervals between the commencement of the periods being determined by the characteristics of the leaf under treatment.

According to this invention the pressure rne-v chanically applied to the top plate of the box containing the leaf is controlled or applied by mechanism operated by the machine itself during the rolling operation.

The mechanism for controlling or applying the pressure on the top plate or cap on the box containing the leaf to be rolled may be of any convenient form, but preferably comprises a cam or cams formed so that one part of the cam surface increases or controls the increase of the pressure, another part of the cam reduces or controls the reduction of the pressure, whilst a third part of the cam surface holds the pressure unaltered.

Each part of the cam arrangement is adjustable so that the length of each period of application or relief of pressure may be adjusted as required to suit the characteristics of the leaf being rolled.

In one preferred construction of cam arrange- 50 ment there are two cams for controlling the mechanical application of the pressure or relief from pressure, and each cam is formed by a pair of cam plates which are bolted together to a cam carrier. Each cam plate of a pair is provided with the 55 necessary projecting portions or cut away portions (Cl. 'i4-53) which together form the projections or recesses on the face of a complete cam and the bolts by which the cam plates are attached to the carrier or holder pass through arcuate slots so that the positions of the pair of cam plates forming each cam may be adjusted relatively to one another to adjust the length of a projection or depression on the cam surface, and so that the two complete cams may be adjusted relatively to one another. The cams are driven directly from the crank which moves the table or box for rolling the tea leaf, through a reduction gearing such as two sets of worm and worm wheels. The cams act on rollers which are carried on levers secured to a single shaft which carries an operating lever connected by a connecting rod with the gear box through which is driven the screw or other means for applying pressure to the top plate or cap of the rolling table.

' One arrangement according to the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which:-

Fig. v1 is a sectional elevation of the cam arrangement and the drive therefor;

Fig. 2 is an end view, with the end cover removed, of the casing containing the cams; while Fig. 3 is a sectional plan View of Fig. l.

In the drawings, reference numeral I indicates the top end of one of the cranks by which the table is driven, and this crank i rotates in a bearing 2 to the top of which is attached a casing 3 divided into two compartments 4 and 5, one of which, 4, contains the reduction gearing by which the cams are driven from the crank i, While the other compartment 5 contains the cams and the levers on which they act. These two compartments 4 and 5 are closed by cover plates such as 6, 'I and 3 respectively, for permitting access to the mechanism and for adjusting the cams.

The reduction gearing for driving the cams from the crank I consists of a worm S, keyed to the top of the crank I, which meshes with a worm wheel i0 carried on a transverse shaft Il which also has keyed to it a second worm i2 which meshes with worm wheel I3. This worm wheel I3 is keyed to a cam shaft Iii which runs in bearings I5 and I6 in the end plates 0 and 8 respectively and in` an intermediate bearing Il formed in the dividing wall I8 which separates the two compartments 4 and 5. By means of this double worm and worm wheel reduction gearing it is possible to obtain a very slow speed for the cam shaft I4, and this is normally made one revolution for a complete cycle of the rolling operation.

On the cam shaft I4 is keyed a cam holder or carrier I9 which consists of a boss provided with a projecting circular rib 20 to which the cams are bolted by bolts 2|. One of the cams is formed by a pair of plates 22 which are similar in shape and consist of a circular portion which is provided at opposite points of its diameter with the projecting portions 23, which together form the cam projections as will be clear from Fig. 2. The other cam is formed by a pair of plates 24 which are circular but are provided at opposite points of their peripheries with cut-away portions 25 as will also be clear from Fig.l 2. The bolts 2| by which the cam plates are secured to the cam holder I9 pass through arcuate slots 26 in l5 the pairs of cam plates by which it is possible to adjust the position of the pairs of cam plates 22 and 2li relatively toone another in order to alter the positions of the projections 23 with respect to the depressions 25, and also by adjusting the cam plates 22 relatively to one another to alter the length of the complete cam projection formed by both projecting portions 23 and also by adjustment of the plates 24 relatively to one another to adjust the size of the depressed portion 25 formed by the two cutaway portions 25 so that the contours of the cam surfaces may be altered. The two cams act on rollers 2'I which are carried in levers 28 which are secured to a shaft 29 which is journalled in the end cover plate 8 and 30 the dividing wall I8 of the casing, and, on its outer end which projects from the casing, the shaft 29 carries the lever 30 which ts between the forked end of rod 3| and is pivoted thereto by bolt 32. This rod 3| acts on a gear box through which is driven the pressure screw for raising or lowering the' top plate or cap of the leaf rolling table.

In operation, as the crank is rotated the cam shaft I4 is also rotated at a greatly reduced speed, 40 and as the cam projections 23 and the depressions 25 bear on the rollers 27, the levers 3U and rod 3| are moved to alter the drive of the pressure screws in order toV apply or relieve the pressure applied to the tea leaf during the rolling process.

The shaft 29 also carries an arm 33 which has attached to its free end a weight or spring which acts to keep the rollers 21 in contact with the cam faces throughout the rotation of the cams, or this arm may be used for lifting the rollers off the cam when desired. Instead of this arm 33 other arrangements may be used for keeping the rollers in contact with the cam faces.

The end plate 8 also carries an electrical contact device y34 which is insulated from the plate 3 and is arranged so that an electrical circuit is completed, by means of a stud or other fitting 35 carried by the cam arrangement, each time a 5 revolution of the cams is completed so as to give a signal by ringing a bell or by other suitable means to indicate that the cycle of operations is complete and that the machine requires attention. l0

Instead of the cams other equivalent mechanical means may be employed for automatically controlling the application of pressure or the relief of pressure during the operation of the machine. l5

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent isz- 1. In a tea-rolling machine, a casing attached to the body of the machine and divided into two compartments by a partition wall, a shaft ex- 20 tending through both compartments and journalled in the partition wall and the ends of the casing, reduction gearing in one compartment for driving said shaft from the rolling machine itself, in the second compartment a carrier 2 formed with a boss keyed on said shaft and an annular rib projecting from the b-oss, a pair of cam plates mounted on said boss on either side of its rib and rotatable on the boss, bolts passing through said rib and through arcuate slots in 30 said plates to secure said plates in predetermined positions on said carrier, a spindle extending through the second compartment clear of said cam plates and journalled in the partition Wall and the end Wall of the casing and projecting 35 from said casing, levers secured on said spindle Within the second compartment, rollers on the free ends of said levers and bearing on the peripheries of the cam plates, and an operating lever secured to said spindle outside of the casing 4o for controlling the mechanism for applying or relieving the pressure under which the tea leaves are rolled.

2. In a tea-rolling machine, an arrangement according to claim 1, with an electrical contact 4 carried by, but insulated from, an end wall of the casing and projecting into the compartment containing the cams, and a second contact member secured to one of the cams and adapted to come into contact with the first mentioned con- 50 tact as the cams complete a revolution.

AUGUSTUS BEVER. 

